


a glimpse of the engraved

by Pomegranate Pains (garnetanemones)



Series: follow the spring to the uprising [2]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Badass Suki (Avatar), Badass Toph Beifong, F/F, Pre-Relationship, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Toph’s POV
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-20
Updated: 2020-08-20
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:34:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26017354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/garnetanemones/pseuds/Pomegranate%20Pains
Summary: In a world with soulflowers connecting fated pairs, life can be interesting. Especially when you can’t even see your own soulmarks.
Relationships: Aang/Katara (Avatar), Suki/Toph, Toph Beifong & Sokka, hinted Zuko/Sokka
Series: follow the spring to the uprising [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1788871
Comments: 16
Kudos: 246





	a glimpse of the engraved

**Author's Note:**

> This is a oneshot for the main fic I’m working on, fixed grief. You don’t really have to read it to understand what’s going on. Basically, it’s a soulmate au. Wherever you have a scar, your soulmate gets soulflowers that represent who you are.

Once, when her mother had sat her down to explain soulmarks, she’d been told they couldn’t be felt. Couldn’t be spotted by any other way than sight. And despite her determined mind and stubborn strength, this was something Toph could not overcome. Not exactly. 

The way soulmates are a coveted subject tells her they never expect her to meet her own. It’s something no one mentions and she’s too afraid to ask if it’s because she doesn’t have any. It’s the first time she’s truly envious of something such as being able to see. It’s also the first time she feels as fragile as her parents say she is. 

Toph decides then, at the young age of seven, that she doesn’t need a soulmate to be strong or secure. She can do that herself despite what her parents might say. And she learns how to do just that in deep caves with giant, gentle beasts. People underestimate her still, always seeing a little girl first and never the warrior that lurks beneath, but she learns to use that to her advantage. Finds that for once, she doesn’t mind being seen as weak, because it’s always them who end up wounded in the end. 

* * *

When she isn’t surrounded by a stadium of fans and faced with her opponent of the night, she’s locked away like a cursed maiden. Hidden away from the public, _for her own wellbeing._ She knows bullshit when she smells it but she keeps her opinions to herself. They’re never heard anyways. 

She suppresses and suppresses with each passing day. And when she releases it all, she’s proud to say it’s never her crying. She knows how to use her pent up anger and pain in a semi healthy way. She knows a thing or two about turning weaknesses into strengths, after all. 

But there are days that Toph finds herself... _longing_. Days when she wonders if it’s true and not just another fairytale her mother tries to shove down her throat. If people really do have flowers on their skin and fated love. She tries to find proof, to see if she has her own, and ends up tracing her skin with her finger pads, looking for anything that stands out. 

Toph never finds anything. Or at least, she can’t feel any markings. And that fear of _what if_ keeps her lips sealed about the issue.   
  


* * *

When she meets the people that will come to be her family, she learns the truth. Soulmates really exist. They’re not as fantastical as they’d been made out to be in Toph’s mind but that’s okay. 

She finds out that Aang and Katara are destined to be. And it’s Aang who explains what it’s like so even if she can’t see the matching scars, she can still know. The painful longing, the flooded sense of smell, and innate feeling of just _knowing._ She thanks him for telling her but tries not to make too big of a deal about it. Doesn’t want them to know how much that helps the tension in her chest of knowing that she doesn’t need sight to still have a soulmate. 

Toph learns just because a pair are destined doesn’t mean they’ll be together. Sokka is proof of that. He’s evasive with it at first but ends up telling her anyway. How there’s flowers across his face that tell the world who he’s tied to. 

He says the spirits get it wrong sometimes. She doesn’t mention the way his heartbeat stutters nor how every time the prince is mentioned, his heart races. She thinks if the spirits truly got it wrong, then Sokka doesn’t mind as much as he says he does. And it’s not something Toph wishes upon herself but it’s a comfort knowing that it’s not perfect. Eases the pressure off of herself to be just that. 

* * *

Initially, Toph had thought to go to Katara, but it’s Sokka she ends up seeking out. If anything, he’d be the one to be more understandable about the situation. Katara reminds her too much of her parents sometimes, too eager to fix things she thinks are broken. Unlike them, Katara genuinely just wants to help. But it still leaves a bitter aftertaste in the younger girl’s mouth. So to Sokka she goes. 

“Can you help me?” She asks as quickly as possible, skin itching. 

He stops fiddling with the map and she wonders what he’s doing in the moment of silence that follows. “Oh, um, with what?” 

Gulping, she finds she has to force the words out of her mouth. “I need you to see if I have any soulflowers.”

“Oh,” Is all he says, voice softer than it usually is. She hates it, hates that he might think her weak for this, but she refuses to hide from this possibility any longer. 

“It’s fine if I don’t-” She begins to say, head held high. 

“It’s not that!” He hastily corrects, efficiently cutting her off. “I just hadn’t thought about… anyways. You have soulflowers, though. I don’t know how many but there’s one on your elbow.”

She sucks in a breath, hands clutching at opposite elbows, desperate to feel anything. But just as before, she feels nothing there on her skin. Nothing to indicate something as precious as a soulflowers. It just feels like skin. 

“I can… describe it?” He asks, sounding too pained by his own question. 

Toph doesn’t call him out on it though. She just nods, letting the older boy take her right arm and position it in a way so he can see her elbow. He traces something, his fingertip crossing over her elbow and curling into the crease of her arm. 

Sokka’s quiet again and she patiently waits, heart pounding. “It’s this long flower with tiny petals. They’re dark purple, if that helps any. I think I might actually recognize it.”

“The flower?” She frowns. For the second time in her life, she wishes she could see. 

“Yeah. I think it’s Heather.” He says in a way that she knows he’s smiling. His voice takes on a soft lilt when he does. 

She sifts through everything she knows for anything about a flower called Heather but finds nothing. “What does it mean?”

“Well, if you were to ask my Gran-Gran, she’d say it means your soulmate is a protector,” Sokka let’s her go, taking a step back. And just as she’s about to interject, explain how she doesn’t need someone to protect her and how she can handle herself, she says something that stops her. “Looks like the two of you will have that in common.”

And, well, maybe she can make due if they protect each other. “That’s… good.”

He laughs at that but she can hear there’s something a little off about it. Something a little broken. Instead of prying like the others might have, she instead does the best next thing, and hugs him. 

“Thank you.” She murmurs against the front of his shirt. 

He pats the top of her head and does his best to return the hug with the height difference. When she pulls away, she makes sure to land a hit on his shoulder, just to set things right again. He laughs but it’s not like it was before. It’s lighter, not quite as weighed down. She decides she likes this laugh the best. 

* * *

After weeks of traveling on foot, Toph can’t say she’s opposed to a ferry. Her feet are beginning to ache and she’s almost certain there are blisters forming. The others don’t seem to be faring any better either. If anything, they seem to be doing worse. Well, Sokka at least. 

The terminal isn’t so bad and while being surprisingly busy, the ticket line moves quickly. It’s a bit much for her to keep track of everyone, not used to being around so many people recently, but she grew up in a crowded city. She’ll be alright. 

“Not buying it,” The lady at the ticket booth says in the face of Aang. “Passports or get out of line.”

And, well. Her parents had never really made her life easier. But flashing her family crest has her rethinking that. She gets them tickets in the end, grinning all the while, and pets her seeing eye lemur in success. 

“Not the Avatar my ass,” Sokka grumbles, even as they walk away with what they came for. 

“Just let it go already,” Katara sighs, not far behind the blind girl. 

Aang, always one to be light on his feet, twirls around to face the siblings. “Yeah! Toph figured it out in the end.”

“Hell yeah I did,” She gloats. “Y’all would be lost without me.”

They go to find a place to wait but never manage it. Mainly because it seems like security has taken an interest in them. A girl rushes to reach them, grabbing Sokka by the arm. If this wasn’t a potentially serious issue, she’d laugh at the squealing noise he makes. 

“Hold it!” The security girl barks out. “Let me guess, the bald boy is the Avatar and you lot are traveling with him.”

“Uh, yes.” Sokka answers, almost cringing at himself. “Do we know you?”

“You tell me,” Then she knocks Sokka on his ass by sweeping his feet from under him. She keeps herself lowered, probably looking at the now fallen boy. “Your form has gotten worse.”

“Suki?!” He exclaims, jumping to his feet. He helps the girl up and the two hug before she shifts to face the three of them. 

Toph goes to speak, to ask just who Suki is, but the terminal, already foul smelling, suddenly takes on a new smell. One that would be floral if it weren’t for the undertones of earth. It reminds her of the grassy hills atop the tunnels she’d learned to earth bend in. It reminds her of home. 

And at first, she’d thought it was just the new person. But then it keeps growing and it’s all she can smell, all she can think about. When it fades, she’s a little dizzy, and hesitant to breath, afraid of that smell taking over her again. 

“Lady, you gotta take a bath, that stuff is strong,” She advises, fanning the air in front of her face in hopes that’ll clear the rest of it out. 

Yet, she doesn’t say anything in response. Neither do the others which only serve to surprise her further. She would’ve thought Katara would at least scold her for not being polite. 

Finally, it’s Aang who breaks the silence with a small laugh. “I can see it.”

“You’re…” Sokka follows, trailing off uncertainty. “You’re not entirely wrong.” He ends up saying a little more certainly. 

Toph waits for someone to explain what they’re talking about. But no one does. “I’m not following.” 

“It’s—” Katara goes to explain. 

But Sokka stops her, stepping closer to kneel in front of Toph. “Suki, you’ve got a scar on your right elbow, don’t you?”

“Yeah.” The girl says, a little winded. 

She almost asks why that’s anything she should know when she tenses. She remembers Sokka’s words, remembers where he traced, and it suddenly clicks. “Huh. So that’s how you know.”

“We’ll go find a place to sit. Give the two of you time to talk.” Katara offers, out of kindness probably, but Toph instinctively reaches for Sokka, heart suddenly participating in a marathon at the thought of being alone. Even if it’s just with her soulmate. Apparently. 

They don’t get to walk away. And it’s not because of Toph. A couple come up to them and if the soft thuds are anything to go by, the woman is heavily pregnant. It offers a distraction and it lets Toph… not avoid the other girl exactly. It lets Toph gather her own thoughts in peace. Yeah, that’s it. 

* * *

It’s late and she’s hiding by the warmth of the fireplace, nestled along the Serpent's Path. She can sense Sokka and Suki talking not too far away from her. And she almost feels guilty for today, for going out of her way to not even stand close to Suki. 

And when Sokka starts walking towards her, she can’t help but sigh. He sits right next to her, basking in the heat of the fire too. “All things considered, today wasn’t too bad, huh?”

She wants to disagree, just to be difficult, but doesn’t. Because despite a few fire balls being thrown at them and trying to knock them off the cliff side, they’re all alive. And a baby was born into a world that’ll hopefully be better than the one they were born in. To top it off, she met her soulmate. That should be cause for celebration. 

“Yeah,” She concedes. 

“Still think you should talk to Suki,” He mentions quickly, lightly bumping her shoulder. “But if you don't want to, then we can’t judge. I mean, it’d be really hypocritical if we did. Aang and Katara are practically married at this point but refuse to admit it. And well, we know my issues at this point.”

“You gotta admit, it’d make for a good play.” She says, chuckling to herself. Her mother always did love plays. 

Sokka laughs right with her. “Oh fuck, it would!”

When their laughs die down, a not entirely comfortable silence settles over them. Hesitantly, Sokka wraps an arm around her, and she figures with no one watching, no one but them to judge, it’s alright to lean into his side. 

“It’s going to be okay,” He quietly murmurs. It sounds like he’s talking to himself but she knows better. 

She doesn’t say anything, doesn’t have to. But now that guilt has grown a little more. So, with a sigh, she gives in. “I’ll talk to her before I go to sleep.”

“Good. You don’t want to go to bed anxious. Weird dreams and all that.” He ruffles the top of her hair a little.

They sit like that for a few more minutes before he stands. He pats her head and she knows what she has to do. She doesn’t want to but she can’t go back on her word. More than, she’s a lot of things, but she’s not a coward. 

So, she stands, and she heads to where Suki is. And she really, really hopes that no one will overhear this. She doubts this’ll be one of her prouder moments. 

“Hi,” Suki greets her softly. 

“So,” She begins, weaker than she wanted. “Sokka says we gotta talk or else I’ll have weird dreams.”

There’s a breathy laugh as Suki loses the tension in her body. “That so?”

“Yeah. Who would’ve thought.” Toph shrugs, fidgeting in the silence that lurks between them. She faces it head on though and she makes sure to go straight through it. “To be completely honest, I’m not a fan of talking. I’m more of the physical kind of person, you know?”

“Well, to be completely honest in return, I get the same way. So how about this,” She begins to suggest. “We suffer the talk together and then we don’t have to worry about it again. At least for a while.”

She mulls it over, humming to herself, before offering her hand with a wide grin. “You got yourself a deal.”

Suki grabs it with her own and they shake on it. “I’m relieved you came to talk with me. I thought maybe you were avoiding me.”

“Me? No way.” Toph exclaims with poor conviction. When there’s a lapse in silence, she knows she must’ve given herself away, and she sighs. “Alright, okay, maybe a little bit. But it wasn’t for long!”

“True. But why? I didn’t scare you, did I?” The older girl frets, her heart beginning to quicken. 

“ _Scare_ me?! You know I’m the best Earth bender of all time, right? I don’t scare easy, hun.” Toph laughs, even just the idea of it is one of the funniest things to her. Then, she remembers who she’s talking to, and quickly quiets. “No offense.”

She just laughs, shuffling on her feet. “It’s okay. I mean, you are pretty badass.”

Toph sniffs, not denying it, not when she was the first one to say it. And she knows, if she were a romantic, she’d find all the ways they were similar and call it what it was. Fate. But she doesn’t and she isn’t. So, she stands there, trying to hide something as cliche as a smile. 

The other girl sighs. “You’re also pretty young.”

“I’m not defenseless,” She immediately snaps out of habit. 

“No, I know that. I’ve only known you for a day and I know you’re more capable than any grown up I’ve met. What I mean is,” She takes a deep breath. “You’re too young for anything romantic.”

Toph debates arguing this point. After all, if she can handle helping lead a war against an oppressive nation, she can handle something as small as romance. Even if she is just thirteen. Aang is the same age and just as Sokka said, he’s practically married, even if they do refuse to label it. But Katara’s only fifteen. Suki, she assumes, is older than that. 

So, she gives in to the point and finds she isn’t too upset with it. “No shit.”

It shocks a small giggle out of Suki. “I was worried I’d have to convince you.”

“No, I get it. But we can be friends for now, can’t we?” She asks, more vulnerable than intended with such a question. 

“Of course!” Suki warmly assures. 

“Then we’re good. Just, promise me one thing.” She doesn’t really wait for an answer but she figures the gentle hand on her shoulder is her okay to continue. “I know we’re soulmates and everything. But promise me you won’t try and control me. Especially if it’s because of my age or because I’m blind. I really can handle myself. I’m not some weak little girl.”

Arms wrap around her and she slowly hugs the other girl back. “I promise you, I will never, _ever_ do that to you.”

When they part, Toph restates her title of being badass by landing a soft hit on Suki’s upper arm. “Good talk, honeybun.”

At least now, she won’t go to bed anxious. More importantly, at least she won’t have weird dreams. She figures she can thank Sokka sometime later. 

**Author's Note:**

> I might write more in the future depending on the response this gets. They’re both super badass. But Toph will be older if I do, obviously. Tell me what you think in the comments!!


End file.
